Pat’s Wildways: Cosmic connections

Sometimes, things happen in my life that seem coincidental, but they happen far too often to be just chance. I know that I am an “open” person with a strong compulsion to connect various people and corners of my life. And sometimes things just happen.

Like recently when I visited the Sand and Sage Mystic Shoppe in Fernandina Beach for the first time. I was wearing one of my tie- dye shirts made for me by my Cherokee friend Freddy Two Hawks and was showing off some photos of Freddy’s shirts that I had made for my Mayan friends in Indian Creek, Belize and suddenly the shop door opened and in came Freddy! His timely appearance jolted us all. He doesn’t show up there often, but just then, there he was, as if we had summoned him!

This was my introduction to the Sand and Sage shop, but I was very intrigued by the place and the people therein. A few days later, I came back to learn more and chat with the owners, Jill Vozza and her husband Rich, who opened the store in February, 2025. Jill, it turns out, is a certified herbalist, an ordained minister, and a high priestess with a ceremonial name, Falcon Skye. And the store itself is an amazing repository of all things herbal, spiritual and natural, with an energy within the store that is not definable with words. A sign on the front door says, “Please be mindful of the energy you bring into this space.” And while Jill was touring me around, I overheard Rich ringing up a sale of some sort of stone, with the comment, “You have really loaded this up with energy.” And the customer said, “Yes, I’m sorry.” Wow. 

This seemed to me like the perfect place to bring a hunk of fresh copal tree sap I had brought back from Belize. Copal is burned in Mayan households to bless and protect the area — similar to North American indigenous uses of sage and cedar. In the U.S. and indeed in the Sand and Sage store you can buy chunks of dried copal, but this fresh stuff was fascinatingly different. Up in the Mayan mountains, where I celebrate my June birthday with Juanita, the aroma of copal pervaded her home, where we held our ceremony. I brought a bit home to do the same.

But I didn’t know how to burn it. My friend Susan Gallion and I lit some in a glass ashtray and admired the smell until the ashtray exploded with shattered hot glass spraying over us. Bad karma for sure.  I contacted Juanita and learned that I should have used a pottery dish like she does, or even on a rock, but certainly not in exploding glass.

So I brought my chunk of copal to the Sand and Sage shop and before long Jill had it burning in a tiny cauldron-like vessel that was perfect for this use and she gifted me this pot afterward. Now, with the appropriate container in hand I was able to smudge my own home with the delicious scent of copal, a calming ritual for sure.

While I was in the Sand and Sage shop, a number of customers browsed and bought their own incense, minerals, herbs, and gifts — this store has all kinds of interesting things. And, with Halloween coming up, I’ll bet these little “witches' cauldrons” will sell like hotcakes too. And if you want some of Freddy’s tie-dye shirts, you can buy them there too.

There is a second part of the Sand and Sage story — a meeting venue in a home along South Fletcher Avenue where classes and ceremonies are held regularly. One staff member, Lex, also gives tarot card readings on Saturdays. You can find out about these events and more by getting on the shop mailing list.

I am glad to meet the people at Sand and Sage, and I expect I will visit them again and again. It’s curious how life brings these encounters to me. It’s partly my outgoingness, I know. But there is more to it than this. Of that I am certain.

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. patandbucko@yahoo.com